


Thunderstorm

by thisisamadhouse



Series: Miscellaneous Missing Year [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Missing Year (Once Upon a Time)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 20:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13597548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisamadhouse/pseuds/thisisamadhouse
Summary: 1st chapter: Prompt: "We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wanna stop and feel the rain?" and its sequel "Tell me a secret"





	1. Chapter 1

Regina was trailing at the rear of the convoy, almost dragging her feet at this point. How had a simple scouting mission turned into this?

  
The lack of any new appearance from Zelena, since the first time Regina had met her a couple months ago, had lured them in a false sense of safety. They had organised this mission to ensure the safety of the realm’s borders and put in place a regular patrol that would accompany those who wanted to regain their former lands. 

  
Regina, Charming and Robin Hood were satisfied by what they saw, until their little troop of Palace Guards and Merry Men was surprised by the sudden attack of a dozen flying monkeys. They had swooped down on them before anyone even realised it.

  
The fighting that ensued was long and excruciating, and when the last monkey had finally fled, they were all left worn out and in pain. They had lost a man to the beasts and several others were injured more or less severely. 

  
The few horses they had were attributed to the wounded, and they made their way back at a much slower pace than during the outward journey.

  
Regina would never admit it but she was exhausted, and had trouble focusing her energy and her magic. Ever since their return to the Enchanted Forest, her magic had been acting strange, used as it had become to Storybrooke, where things were different. Where everything was different.

  
Once or twice during the attack, it had almost failed her, and without the intervention of a particular thief as she was trying to form a reticent fireball, things could have turned out much worse for her. She hated the idea that she owed anything to that man.

  
She vowed that when they were finally back under the protection of the shield she had conjured around the castle, she would train harder to get her control on her magic back. She wouldn’t be bested by this Greenie, she couldn’t let those people down, those people Henry cared about, she couldn’t fail them.

  
Completely lost in her thoughts, she barely noticed the first few droplets falling from the darkened sky until the rumbling of thunder, sounding way too close, pulled her attention back to her surroundings.

  
It was the end of a particularly long and warm summer, and it wasn’t the first time a thunderstorm happened when the hot air of the day gave place to the cooler nights, but given their current situation, this one felt more threatening.

  
“We need to find cover.” Regina heard someone, Charming she thought, yell from the head of the group. They all started to scramble around, trying to determine if taking cover under the trees was a good idea or not with the lighting and the thunder being so close, but Regina wasn’t moving.

  
The rain was pouring by now, it felt cool but not freezing, and it brought such a sensation of relief coursing through her as it washed away the blood and the grime from her hair, her face, her clothes. 

  
She had always liked storms, would race on her horse during them as a young girl. It usually ended with a severe punishment from Cora, who couldn’t stand to see her drenched to the bones, hair hanging heavily around her face, rosy cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes. Her little puppet princess acting as a tomboy, it was unacceptable and Cora always made sure Regina felt it but it never was enough to make Regina stop.

  
Standing there, eyes closed, unmoving under the rain, she tried to focus on the sensation and not on the memories. She soon felt a presence right in front of her, and opening her eyes, found herself staring right at a certain outlaw’s chest.

  
“Milady, you can’t stay here, we need to find cover until this storm passes,” the thief said and she shook her head.

  
“You do whatever you want, Outlaw, but I’m perfectly okay right where I am,” she replied, closing her eyes again, hoping he would get the message.

  
“You can’t be serious, we’re in the middle of a thunderstorm, and you want to stop and feel the rain? You’re going to catch your death here!” He exclaimed, and she royally ignored him. “This is complete and utter madness,” he muttered.

  
Before Regina could understand what was happening, or even attempt to stop him, Robin had thrown her over his shoulders and was moving fast towards the rest of the group, who had created a makeshift shelter with cloaks and blankets. She screamed at him to put her down, kicking and punching him the whole way, but he was unfazed.

  
The moment he set her down, she punched him hard in the arm right where a monkey’s claw had nicked him earlier when he had-chivalrously in his mind no doubt- put himself in its path towards her. This time, he grunted in pain.

  
“The next time you pull off something like that, flying monkeys are going to be the least of your problems, you hear me? Ask the Prince what happens when someone tries to manhandle me,” she told Robin in a vicious tone, before stepping away from the tent to be under the rain again.

  
If she was forced to stay in bed for nearly a week when they got back to the castle because of a bad cold, and if she had to endure the smirking thief’s presence who volunteered to bring her some hot soup Granny threatened to force down her throat, well at least it had been worth it.


	2. "Tell me a secret"

It was supposed to be a simple question, a game for him even his father told her later, but the first time little Roland had asked her that she had frozen.

   
She had just woken up and had been aware of it for the first time in days. Her fever had finally started to break, the delirium it had caused leaving her confused and tired, her eyes had felt heavier than ever before as she had lifted them. 

  
For a second, she had thought the face above hers was Henry’s, her mind still hanging in that place where dreams and reality mix up, and she had smiled, until the blur had cleared and the crushing disappointment had almost made her cry in distress. It hadn’t been her little prince standing beside her bed, and dabbing a wet cloth carefully over her brow, no, it had been the little outlaw.

  
“Roland, what did I tell you? You shouldn’t bother the Queen while she is resting,” she had heard a whispered scolding coming from the door, and had recognized the voice as Roland’s father’s.

  
“But Papa, she was smiling, and now she is awake,” Roland’s attempt at speaking softly hadn’t been very successful.

  
She had been groggy, her throat had felt like it had been scraped with sandpaper, and she had barely been able to breathe through her nose. She had sneezed and coughed, her skull throbbing painfully.

  
“You’re probably regretting that you stood under the rain for so long now, don’t you Milady?”

  
The thief had smirked at her, the man who a moment before had been scolding his son for waking her up, had mocked her and… by the gods she had been way too tired for this. It had been his fault anyway, he had manhandled her, had thrown over his shoulder to get cover. She had killed people for less than that but things were different now, she was different. So she had simply ignored him, and turned back towards Roland who had been playing with her hair during the little exchange. She hadn’t dared to imagine what her hair looked like after several days spent in bed, feverish and sweaty.

  
Robin had slipped away from the room, to inform The Charmings that she was on the mend. He had instructed his son to watch over her until his return.

  
That’s when it had started. Roland had settled, more like curled up, by her side still playing with her hair and talking nonsense until he had asked her.

  
“Tell me a secret, please? I am good at keeping secrets.” His “please” had been long, all wide inquiring eyes and tentative smile, but she had frozen, unable to answer. Her heart had raced as her mind had been invaded by a memory of a time long ago when she had trusted a child with a secret and it had cost her everything. “What you saw, what I told you, you must keep it a secret.” and Snow had promised but Cora had been too cunning and manipulating for the ten-years old to ever have a chance against her. 

  
Regina had closed her eyes, had tried to stay in the present. Roland wasn’t Snow, he was much younger, he had no idea what impact some simple words could have on a person’s life. If she had told him her favourite colour, it probably would have been enough for him and the thought had calmed her.

  
When his father had come back in her bedchambers, he had found them engrossed in a discussion about Christmas in the other world. It had probably been because Henry was so present in her thoughts that Regina had chosen this particular subject. All the Christmases she had celebrated with her son were some of her fondest memories, and it hadn’t hurt as much to tell Roland about it. She had told him of the old white-bearded man in the red suit who left gifts for every children who had been nice all year, and the tradition to leave cookies and milk for him. 

  
The big secret had been that she would keep some of the cookies for herself without Henry knowing. Regina hadn’t had quite the heart to tell an amazed Roland that the old man wasn’t real. Robin Hood had laughed loudly when his son had told Regina that she was a thief too, a cookie thief, and he had been mindful of his desserts in the weeks that followed when she had finally been able to come back and eat in the Great Hall.

  
Months later, Roland had wanted to celebrate Christmas like in the other world, and the Charmings and Regina had exchanged looks that spoke of how much they were thinking about Henry and Emma celebrating, not knowing how much they were being missed.

  
In the end, no one had been able to resist the little boy, and it had proved therapeutic for most of them. Even more than Regina would have expected, especially when she had decided to show Robin why mistletoe had been hanged all around the castle. 

 

A lapse in judgement on her part that had seemed to be repeated each time they had found themselves alone under the sprigs. It was therapeutic she had told herself because when she had been kissing the Prince of Thieves, one of his hands in her hair, the other at the small of her back to press her closer and closer to him, it had become a bit easier to remember the good memories with her son rather than the terrible ones from the past couple of years. 

  
How had they gone from throwing insults at each other, and him manhandling her, to stealing kisses under mistletoe she wasn’t quite sure. She didn’t want to question it too much because she knew the moment she did she would put a stop to it, she would have to. 

  
“Tell me a secret.” Roland had said. She could never tell him or his father the real secret, she could never talk about pixie dust, and a choice made long ago, and a tattoo which was burned in her eyelids, glaring accusingly at her each time she closed them. She had learned her lesson.


End file.
